The Texarkana, Ark., Point-in-Time homeless count, headed by The Salvation Army, was performed Tuesday.
"Every year we do this to get a more accurate count of the number of people who are actually homeless," said Maj. David Feeser, local Salvation Army commander.
The Salvation Army worked with St. Edward's Catholic Church for this year's count. They had several special events including coffee, hot chocolate and breakfast Tuesday morning. In the afternoon The Salvation Army served lunch and had bingo for the local homeless population and others in the community.
The special events are held to encourage the homeless population to participate in the Point-in-Time count, which asked them some basic information about their living situation but doesn't identify them specifically.
"We do this to draw more people out who might not want to be public about their situation," Feeser said. "We give them incentives to help get them out so we can sort of have an idea."
Information collected by the count is used to get funding for programs that help the homeless.
"It gets compiled by state, but it helps with a homeless grant called Emergency Solutions grant. The count helps us determine the homeless population and what percentages of funding we'll receive," Feeser said. "We actually receive a grant from state of Arkansas for the shelter and for rapid rehousing, which is a program to get homeless people off the street and into a place. It's also preventing homelessness by helping with rent assistance or utility assistance."
The Texarkana, Texas Point-in-Time count takes place Thursday.
Information from the two counts in the twin cities will be compiled together.
"The counts get merged together because of the nature of the city," Feeser said. "In a few days we'll work with groups that do this on the Texas side."